Bruins suffer big blow

PERU — The Bruins entered into their last game of the season Friday night with a shot at the playoffs hanging in the balance. Whether it was the cold, the turnovers, or the team looking past an opponent they weren’t familiar with isn’t certain. What is certain is that St. Bede’s football team will be on the bubble after their 15-14 loss to the Sherrard Tigers Friday night.

“You saw the game. We lost. That’s all I can say,” Bruins' coach John Bellino said. “We had turnovers, bad turnovers. We didn’t create enough. We had had bad field position all night.”

Bellino added that every time his team started to get something going they would commit a penalty or fail to execute.

With a 5-4 record, the Bruins are playoff eligible, but they will struggle to have enough playoff points (opponents wins) to make it it.

It was tough sledding for both the Tigers and the Bruins for all but a few moments in the game. The teams traded possessions for most of the first half. The game was scoreless until the Bruins found the end zone on a 34-yard Jack Brady to Sam Halm pass with less than a minute left in the half. The Bruins failed to convert on the extra point and the Tigers chose to take it into the locker room and talk things over.

The third quarter was not a big improvement for either squad as they each held the ball three times and came away with nothing.

Early in the fourth quarter, Tiger quarterback Clayton Bjustrom found his favorite target, tight end Lucas Boraas, with a 6-yard touchdown pass. The Tigers hit the extra point and things looked grim for the Bruins though they were only down 7-6.

St. Bede responded with more erratic offense and nearing the end of the fourth quarter the Tigers were threatening again. That’s when Bjustrom made a regrettable throw that landed in the waiting hands of Justin Shaw. Shaw took the interception back 85 yards to put the Bruins back in control 14-7.

A little over one minute later the Tigers were back in business with 1:50 left in the game. Running back Nathan Kelly punched it in and the Tigers had their one-point lead back, 15-14.

The Bruins came out with enough time to make something happen but quarterback Jack Brady threw the ball into a crowd of defenders and the Tigers ran out the clock to seal the win.